sharke
I just don't see it happening. Sonar has a small user base compared to other DAW's, and it seems to be comprised mainly of older users (40+) who use the software because they've used it for a long time and they stuck with it. It wasn't attracting nearly enough fresh new blood, and that's ultimately why Cakewalk went under. Add to that the fact that the program has a number of serious issues that the Bakers themselves never managed to fix, let alone a brand new team diving into unfamiliar code. It would be a HUGE costly risk for them, with no guarantee of a return on their investment, indeed a large chance that they would lose their money. It's sad to say but I really don't think Sonar is going to be adopted. The best we can hope for is that the Bakers start development of a new DAW from the ground up.

I hear you, but all that would have been needed to remedy this is a concerted marketing effort. I work in marketing and that is what would have pushed Sonar over to the masses. As anyone has used both the industry standard ProTools and Sonar can attest, the Cakewalk product is far superior. Marketing is the thing that gets this secret out to the public. People like things that are better than other things. No kidding, right? Nobody would intentionally select an inferior product if a better one were available. Especially if the better product were also the more affordable product. Who says, "Sure, I will give my hard earned money to the lesser product?" There was a marketing failure somewhere!
 

lapasoa
chukebaby wrote: the majority (guessing 75%) of Cakewalks customers have purchased other software now...
Do you own the statistics?
Maybe you forget that in all over the world there are a hundred of thousands of enthusiastic users of Cakewalk Sonar.

 
Have to agree, Nobody would know. Not even Cakewalk. Between the older versions still going strong and the pirated copies as well as friends who share.  As I said I have 2 people who I got going on Sonar and for sure they do not do forums or probably never even registered.  But they also use most of the other DAW's as well.  Everybody I know around my town who uses a DAW is either Pro Tools or Cubase. But many also like Sonar and have older copies and what not. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here who uses Splat.  They will be oblivious to what happend. 
 
There are a lot of people who use older versions of all software and are quite content to do so. It's a much smaller group ( I think) that run out and spend their money every chance they get on the latest upgrades. Most people I know, including myself don't have that sort of cash on hand. 
And musicians as a group tend to like "vintage" stuff. Software is a boring purchase really when you look at what $500 can buy you these days. I'd rather buy hardware myself. 
 
My guess it could be as low as 10% or Sonar users just ran out and spent $250 on another DAW and this is all good. It keeps the industry alive. 
Sonar has come to the end of development ( for now? ) and it really doesn't change anything for a lot of users, most who will be oblivious anyhow. I used 8.5 durring the X series years. Now I will use Splat in the same manner. 
 
I'll miss this forum which I already see is fading fast. 

scottcmusic

sharke
I just don't see it happening. Sonar has a small user base compared to other DAW's, and it seems to be comprised mainly of older users (40+) who use the software because they've used it for a long time and they stuck with it. It wasn't attracting nearly enough fresh new blood, and that's ultimately why Cakewalk went under. Add to that the fact that the program has a number of serious issues that the Bakers themselves never managed to fix, let alone a brand new team diving into unfamiliar code. It would be a HUGE costly risk for them, with no guarantee of a return on their investment, indeed a large chance that they would lose their money. It's sad to say but I really don't think Sonar is going to be adopted. The best we can hope for is that the Bakers start development of a new DAW from the ground up.

I hear you, but all that would have been needed to remedy this is a concerted marketing effort. I work in marketing and that is what would have pushed Sonar over to the masses. As anyone has used both the industry standard ProTools and Sonar can attest, the Cakewalk product is far superior. Marketing is the thing that gets this secret out to the public. People like things that are better than other things. No kidding, right? Nobody would intentionally select an inferior product if a better one were available. Especially if the better product were also the more affordable product. Who says, "Sure, I will give my hard earned money to the lesser product?" There was a marketing failure somewhere!
 

 
I doubt whether there is any "concerted marketing effort" which would have sent people flocking, in droves, to either replace their current DAW with Sonar or purchase Sonar as their first DAW. People are choosing DAW's based on what they see their favorite artists or professionals use, what they see in video tutorials, things like that. And they don't see Sonar being used. The best marketing campaign would communicate, at best: "Hey, you know that DAW which you don't see being used by anyone you've ever heard of? Well we think you should buy it anyway!" 
 
I don't even think it's clear that Sonar is superior than Pro Tools. There are aspects of its feature set and its workflow which are arguably superior, of course. But Sonar has a lot of weird bugs and quirks compared to Pro Tools. For instance, regularly destroying plugin settings that were supposed to be saved with the project. If I was using Sonar in a professional context and this started happening, and no fix was forthcoming for the problem, I'd jump ship in an instant because it's such a huge productivity killer. 
 
The young kids who are driving sales of new DAW's had no reason to choose Sonar over other DAW's which either cater better to their modern production style, or which they see being used by their favorite artists. Bearing in mind this was the age group Sonar was a resounding failure with, and bearing in mind that to survive, Cakewalk would have had to have tapped into this market, just what do you think could be said by marketing to convince the kids? You'd have your work cut out. 
 
Like it or not, Sonar has a reputation for being the DAW of choice for mature hobbyists, and I suspect much of its user base fits into that category. There's nothing wrong with that of course, except for the fact that it's evidently not a very profitable demographic. 
 
 

James, is Noel posting information on other media sites that's not posted here? I noticed you mention facebook in an earlier post. I don't do social media so do you think we're missing anything important by just browsing the forums?

Noel definitely comments in the Cakewalk SONAR Talk group on Facebook. I don't follow all threads in there but have seen his comments a few times. It's nothing particularly earth shattering with regards the Sonar situation, but he has made a few comments. Put it this way, he's not revealing any inner secrets or anything. But I have seen him make comments related to the situation, for example when people were talking about the possibility of Sonar going open source, he commented that it would be hard to set up and probably wouldn't happen. So it's good to hear the input of someone who actually knows what's involved as opposed to the cacophony of people getting excited about Sonar-reviving ideas they haven't properly thought through. 

The picture of Captain Kirk in my profile clearly represents the look on my face when I looked at the Cakewalk site a couple weeks ago.  (What??? You're leaving?! I thought we were happy together!!)
 
It would be nice if, somehow, Sonar found a new life and continued on.  IK could make a great home for the product.  It seems a ridiculous waste to just toss Sonar on the heap and move on.  The tech world is a fierce environment to compete in.  People expect their tech to get better and better as well as cheaper and cheaper.  If some other company thinks they can make money by buying Sonar and carrying it forward then it will survive.  And I'll happily pay to keep it alive.
 
Regarding the market for DAW software in the future:  Took my daughter with me into Guitar Center the other day to buy some strings.  I started fooling around with an Ableton Push / Live combo.  She started punching a few buttons, triggered some loops and hits and asked me "Dad why do you keep fooling with a guitar?  You should just get one of these things and push buttons.  This is easy."  Oh, no, not you too... I can hear a new marketing pitch to the younger crowd now "Super Music Maker Deluxe Update!  Now with 50% more buttons and Free T-Pain Effect!"
 
So I've taken advantage of a few very generous (and opportunistic) cross grade offers from Magix, PreSonus, etc..  Re-upped my Groove 3 all access pass for 2018.  Going back to school, so to speak.  Not an entirely bad thing. 
 
I will continue to use Sonar but I am fearful that eventually some update to Windows will muck up my legacy install.  I won't invest time in trying to work deeper into the product.
 
What a great product it was and continues to be.   
 
 

chuckebaby
The only reason I don't see this happening is other vendors were allowed to post cross-grade offers on Cakewalks own site.
Its over. the majority (guessing 75%) of Cakewalks customers have purchased other software now.
 
If they were going to do something, it would have been within the first few days/first week.
It definitely saddens me but I don't have much hope for a reprise. More so, The trust factor is damaged.
Im sure many would have an issue, a trust issue worrying about being burned again by a company that has disconnected itself from its customers (when they need them most) for over a month now.
 

I don't know, Chuck. While it may be probable that we all tend toward a single DAW in terms of work flow and features, it's not a zero sum game. Some here have argued for a use based on specialization since the demise of Sonar; i.e., Cubase for MIDI, Studio One for song writing, MixBus for mixing/mastering (or whatever in each scenario). 
 
Even if you're correct with your estimation of 75% of users moving on, I have a hunch (granted it's little more than speculation), that many would welcome a new owner for Sonar. And the paradigm of trying to do everything under a "one DAW umbrella" may be changing into something more modular anyway. 
 
This point is in the category of "FWIW": I realized a number of years ago that Americans largely live in the world of "either/or". We seem to be almost intrinsically incapable of entertaining more than two options at a time. This dualism usually has the negative effect of eliminating options that might go a long way to being better overall solutions to complex issues. I know that I've tried to minimize the stultifying ramifications of dualism and it's been a somewhat daunting, yet worthwhile challenge. Again, this is offered in the spirit of "FWIW".

outland144k

chuckebaby
The only reason I don't see this happening is other vendors were allowed to post cross-grade offers on Cakewalks own site.
Its over. the majority (guessing 75%) of Cakewalks customers have purchased other software now.
 
If they were going to do something, it would have been within the first few days/first week.
It definitely saddens me but I don't have much hope for a reprise. More so, The trust factor is damaged.
Im sure many would have an issue, a trust issue worrying about being burned again by a company that has disconnected itself from its customers (when they need them most) for over a month now.
 

I don't know, Chuck. While it may be probable that we all tend toward a single DAW in terms of work flow and features, it's not a zero sum game. Some here have argued for a use based on specialization since the demise of Sonar; i.e., Cubase for MIDI, Studio One for song writing, MixBus for mixing/mastering (or whatever in each scenario). 
 
Even if you're correct with your estimation of 75% of users moving on, I have a hunch (granted it's little more than speculation), that many would welcome a new owner for Sonar. And the paradigm of trying to do everything under a "one DAW umbrella" may be changing into something more modular anyway. 
 
This point is in the category of "FWIW": I realized a number of years ago that Americans largely live in the world of "either/or". We seem to be almost intrinsically incapable of entertaining more than two options at a time. This dualism usually has the negative effect of eliminating options that might go a long way to being better overall solutions to complex issues. I know that I've tried to minimize the stultifying ramifications of dualism and it's been a somewhat daunting, yet worthwhile challenge. Again, this is offered in the spirit of "FWIW".

Good point man. I've always respected your opinion. Even when I didn't agree with it(which wasn't often).
You bring up good points. I hope you are right.